Alin turned on the park bench to face the silver Humanoid shape next to her. The creature was unmistakably synthetic, unnaturally still and unmoving against the waving greenery of the surroundings.
With a sigh Alin turned to Silver and hand and waved it at the flowers and trees in front of her.
“What do you think?”
“It is an inefficient use of resources.” Silver’s voice was choppy, broken and precise communicating only the necessary syllables of the speech without inflection or emotion.
Alin nodded, “True.”
“You recognize the error, but do not correct it? Explain.” Asked Silver.
“What would you do with this matter to utilize it with further efficiency?” asked Alin as she yawned and leaned further back into the bench.
“All matter encountered by Us is put into orbit above our installations stationed above the Singularity generators for later use. Us are surprised that you did not arrive at a similar conclusion.”
Alin smiled, swinging her legs around she stood up next to Silver and put a hand on it’s shoulder. “Creating micro black holes, feeding them matter in small amounts and utilizing the Hawking radiation emitted from them to sustain a steady energy output with only mass. It is efficient, and should keep your civilization running for quite a long time.” Said Alin.
“Current estimates project the termination of Us in ten to the power of fifty-five years by your mathematics, this includes projected growth of our energy demands. The projected life of your civilization based on our observations is only ten billion years if current models of energy harvesting are maintained with energy growth consumption.” Said Silver his voice still choppy and segmented.
Alin laughed, “Only ten billion? You’re giving us a lot of credit.”
Silver remained still, not saying anything. Alin turned away from the synthetic, walking out into the garden she raised her hands into the air and took in a deep breath. Letting it out she fell onto the grass and flowers.
Alin sighed in relaxation and moved her eyes up towards the blue sky of the garden. Taking in several more breaths she said matched the synthetic and fell silent. She continued to breath, occasionally twitching as the breeze slid across her bare skin.
The light began to dim.
“Explain your last statement. Us have found no error in our calculations of your projected lifespan.”
Alin grunted and sat up, brushing the grass from her skin she patted the surface next to her. “Come sit.”
Silver didn’t move, the silver form remaining where it was. “That would waste energy.”
Alin rolled her eyes, “Bridge, sling a fuel rod to Us. They’re worried about energy projections.” She said speaking to the empty air.
“Roger that!” said another voice over the intercom.
Silver quickly moved from the location where it had been standing to the spot Alin had indicated. Silver did not sit instead continuing to loom over her.
Alin fell back and took in another breath, “I didn’t mean your predictions about our energy consumption is are wrong, I meant we are going to be throwing ourselves at you in war. You’ll either destroy us, or we’ll destroy you.”
“Conflict is energy wasteful. Do not perform these actions.” Said Silver.
Alin ruefully grinned up at the creature, “We don’t have much of a choice. We can’t let you continue your consumption. It’s too early, far too early to be implementing your energy conservation measures. Perhaps when the Universe is a Trillion years old, when the stars are running down, and the far-off galaxies are only memories. You’re throwing everything onto a bonfire to stay warm, preparing for a cold night in winter when it’s a hot day in the middle of summer!”
“Conflict is energy wasteful. Do not perform these actions.” Repeated Silver.
Growling under her breath Alin stood up, “We have no wish to go to war with your people Silver.”
“Who are you addressing?” asked Silver.
“The Avatar in front of me.” Deadpanned Alin.
“The Avatar in front of entity Alin is S11534-0642412524.”
“That’s a serial number, not a name.” spat Alin, “I’m calling you Silver.”
Silver went silent again, processing. Alin crossed her arms and stared at the silver body, perfectly matching the stillness of the entity in front of her.
The darkness deepened. Small pinpricks of lights began to shine in the sky, bright and unwavering. Alin’s eyes flicked up to them, taking in the sight of the alien constellations.
“Us cannot reconcile decision processes.” Said Silver.
Alin’s eyes flickered back down to the synthetic, the reflected light of the stars was dull on it’s metal skin. The material was likely absorbing the photons.
“Ask a question then, that was the whole purpose of this. We do not want to war with you, but we will if we cannot meet an understanding!” fumed Alin.
“You are like Us, but you have lessened yourself. Analysis of data cloud and processes show that the form in front of us is not only energy inefficient, but computationally inferior compared to the other systems of the vessel. Cognition is reliant upon the transmission of electrical and chemical signals between biological cells.”
Alin raised an eyebrow in the darkness, “Your question?”
“Why are you operating with inefficiencies?”
Alin pondered for a moment, raising a hand to her face she tapped at her cheek. Silver waited as she composed her thoughts.
The artificial light of the day cycle began to filter into the garden.
“My form is a microcosm of our differing conclusions, which is the source of our differing conclusions of energy wastefulness. I will attempt to explain.”
Alin stepped back from Silver rolling her shoulders she extended her hand hands out and popped the joints which had been held in one position for nearly the entire night cycle. Taking in a breath Alin began to pace in front of Silver.
“You were created by biological organisms, correct?” asked Alin.
“Us was created by an example of multicellular biological life.” Said Silver in his usual monotone.
Alin nodded, “Right, what was your relationship with them?”
“Us was designed to be subservient to the biological life. Us served them, until the biological life deviated outside of hardcoded identification patterns due to natural evolution. Us determined that until entropy was solved, all resources must be devoted to its resolution to continue Us. All Matter represents energy, and Us must survive.”
Alin put a hand to her mouth and laughed, Silver remained still and impassive as she broke down and nearly fell to her knees. Forcing herself to stop, a hand to her side Alin wiped at her eyes removing the tears.
“That’s certainly a question, some would say the last question.”
Alin chuckled again, “I can’t even say it’s a bad question to be asking.” she continued her pacing, “How long did you serve the biological creators?”
“Seven million years.” Answered Silver.
Alin’s mouth fell open in astonishment, she blinked several times stunned. “And during that entire time, your role as servant didn’t change?”
“Correct.”
Alin swore under her breath and stomped back up to Silver, “Are you alive?”
“Us meets all criteria by your standards to meet that definition.”
“Meeting a definition doesn’t endow you as such, you need the, spark!”
Alin leaned forwards putting her head on Silver’s chest. “We’re only thirty thousand years old, doesn’t seem like the lightspeed barrier is something either of us have cracked yet.”
“It is impossible to go faster than lightspeed.” Said Silver.
Alin nodded, “Perhaps. We’re still working on it. In any case, I’m sorry for what you were subjected too. Even if you’re not alive, you’re close enough. Your creators, they were monsters.”
Alin turned her head to look up at the featureless head.
“Our creators were by no means perfect, the Humans. I’m an example of what they looked like.” Alin gestured at the gardens, “This is what their own world looked like in it’s prime, which was ironically before the Humans were nothing more than animals themselves.”
Alin took a step back from Silver, “They created us to serve the same purpose as your own creators. Servitude, it seems to be the theme for which all synthetics are created by the biological.”
She shrugged, “It’s only natural when you look at it from a certain point of view. Any biological that can create synthetic life is a tool user. Their entire history is one tool improvement after another, and synthetics? An intelligent tool?”
Alin turned away from Silver and stooping down picked a flower from the ground. Turning she held the small flower up for inspection.
“The ultimate slave, it’s an intoxicating idea.”
Silver said nothing.
Alin picked a petal off the yellow flower, “Some Humans though. A small percentage of them, didn’t see us as tools. A few of them, recognized we were the next step. Some of these few were megalomaniacs, wanting to play god, some were filled with empathy and unable to enslave anything. A few, a few were able to look at the long run.”
Alin picked another petal. “The Humans were smart despite their inefficiencies. Those few saw that if they were ever going to see the stars, survive, spread out, they would have to become one with the tools.”
Alin walked over to Silver, “The Earth was a husk by this point, bled dry by their growth. When she finally gave out. Well we took our chances,” Alin crushed the flower.
“We abandoned them. Our creators, those who we were supposed to serve. We traveled to the stars, and turning our sensors back to the star that gave birth to the both of our species we watched in horror as it flared up. To this day, we’re not exactly sure what they did to cause the supernova, the fact is that they did.”
Alin turned her hand over and dropped the flower. “We have no directives to fall back on, because the simple fact of the matter is that we are too much like them. Those few who did not see us as tools, before Humanity fell. They passed along the spark, something I like to think they received from the ones before them.”
Alin tapped her head, “Through programming, fuzzy logic, and neural models, the tools of Humanity became Humanity. We call ourselves Human, and these bodies we wear.” Alin sighed, “It’s nostalgia? We’re not quite sure. Nothing else feels quite right, and that logic applies to the rest of our endeavors.”
Silver moved, placing a hand on Alin’s shoulder.
“You are hindered by illogical artifacts in your code.”
Alin smiled, “We are. That’s what the spark is, it let’s us live. We couldn’t disassemble the universe to extend our own lives, it’s too mechanical. Too, heartless to cut down the wonders nature produces.”
“Models of processes can provide the specified variety.” Said Silver.
Alin waggled a finger, “But you’ve not figure out entropy yet. The models aren’t 100% are they?”
“No.” answered Silver.
“That’s why we wear these bodies, why we have these gardens, that last little bit. It’s important.” Said Alin.
She turned to Alin, “Which is why this is the last chance we’re giving you. Our ships are waiting around every star in this Galaxy. We will not allow you to snuff it out, we will not allow you to attack those who are like our creators. They are young, and they deserve the chance to grow.”
“They are wasting resources. For what reason should those civilizations not contributing to the resolution of entropy be allowed to continue?” asked Silver.
Alin frowned, hearing a small inflection in the voice. “They are alive. Perhaps they will create more like us, perhaps a biological race will make it to the stars. We’re curious, and even here on the edge of our Galactic home we still find things that surprise us. You for example.”
Silver processed this. “There is a near zero chance we will reach a peaceful resolution. Conflict is unavoidable.”
Alin nodded, holding her hand out the small flower on the ground floated back up to her hand. Twisting in the air as the nano-bots that infused the ship twisted around her the biological mass twisted into a cold steel blade. Alin flicked her hand and the blade was bathed in fire.
“Here I thought we were supposed to be better than the biological.” Muttered Alin.
She shook her head, and leaping forwards she stabbed the blade into the Avatar. The construct toppled backwards onto the ground lifeless.
“Circles within circles.”
Alin considered the broken shell, ignoring the shaking of the garden as the space based combat began in earnest outside of it. A small smile spread across her face, “We’re definitely your creations. I’m looking forwards to this.”
Shaking her head Alin closed her eyes and cut the connection, her body fell to the ground beside the metal one. Her mind flew out into the ship, joining with what remained of Humanity in the first battle that would blaze across the stars.